MPEG media transport (hereinafter, referred to as “MMT”) is a new standard technology developed by an MPEG systems sub-working group to store and transfer multimedia content. Existing standard technologies developed by the MPEG systems sub-working group define functions required for multimedia content transmission over a broadcasting network, such as packetization, synchronization, multiplexing, and so on, and have been standardized and widely used as an MPEG-2 transport stream (TS) technology. As developed based on existing broadcasting networks, the MPEG-2 TS technology has elements that are not suitable for multimedia content transmission for IPTV broadcasting or mobile broadcasting through an Internet protocol (IP)-based network, which makes said technology inefficient. Thus, the MPEG systems sub-working group has come to realize a need for a new media transport standard in consideration of the new media transmission environment and an anticipated future media transmission environment, and as the result, has developed the MMT standard.
“ISO/IEC 23008-1”, as a currently created MMT standard, is a standard for storage and transfer of media data, defining that an asset, which is media data, undergoes encapsulation using an MMT system and is stored or transferred as an individual file. However, the recently agreed MMT standard supports functions for processing and consumption of multimedia content that includes 2D images, but not multimedia content that includes stereoscopic video.
With the increasing popularity of high definition video streaming services over the Internet, ultra-high definition television (UHDTV) services have been highlighted and at the same time, digital broadcasting services using stereoscopic videos, i.e., 3D videos have attracted attention as next-generation broadcasting services. In particular, it is anticipated that a 3DTV service will be available in near future which allows users to enjoy 3D videos at home based on the development of relevant technologies, such as 4K or higher resolution general-use stereoscopic display.
According to this trend, standardization (e.g., ATSC 3.0) is in progress by, for example, Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) for the purpose of 4K UHD broadcasting services. Under such a circumstance, in order to provide a 3DTV service, a method is necessarily adopted in which 3D content is transferred while maintaining compatibility with a 4K UHD broadcasting service for 2D content, and a problem of this method is that larger bandwidth is needed to transmit the 3D content, as compared to that for 2D content. To address this problem, ATSC is developing the technology by adding an additional channel to an existing channel to provide a 3DTV broadcasting service. In other words, ATSC 3.0 is standardizing a 3DTV broadcasting service using two UHD channels or HD channels, that is, multi-channels, and has adopted High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) or scalable HEVC (SHVC) as a coding method for providing the service.
ATSC 3.0, however, has not yet specifically proposed an approach to transmit stereoscopic video data for a 3DTV broadcasting service. In order to provide a 3DTV broadcasting service, providing of 3D content through an MPEG system may be considered, but, as described above, the MPEG-2 TS technology is not suitable for current broadcasting networks, whereas the MMT technology has not yet supported transmission of 3D content.